European shares fall as Richemont and luxury stocks slide

LONDON Nov 6 (Reuters) - European stock markets fell on
Friday, with luxury goods stocks among the worst performers
after Richemont warned of tough times ahead.

However, shares in Swiss agriculture company Syngenta
rose more than three percent after media reports of a
possible deal between it and DuPont.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was down by
0.4 percent in early session trading, while the euro zone's
blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index fell 0.4 percent.

Richemont fell 7 percent after the owner of the Cartier
brand warned of a challenging second-half after first-half net
profits grew less than expected, as strong demand for high-end
jewellery could not make up for weaker luxury watch sales in
Hong Kong.

Richemont's decline dragged down the shares of its rivals,
with Swatch falling 5 percent while LVMH also
declined by 3.3 percent.

According to data from Thomson Reuters StarMine, 52 percent
of companies on the European STOXX 600 index have
beaten or met market forecasts with their third quarter results
so far, although earnings guidance has been cut for the fourth
quarter.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Alistair Smout)